Dust content in the air: A case study of the Afanasyevsky open pit mine (Russia)

Abstract

According to experts, the world consumption of mineral raw materials and the rocks extraction have reached about 12 and 100 billion tons per year, respectively. Overall Russian coal production accounts for 259.9 million tons (according to the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation and the ‘Rosinformugol’ agency), metallic ores are estimated at 230 million tons, and building materials reach 1.4 billion tons. The overall growth in mineral production and capacity of ore producers cause an increase in the negative environmental impact of mining extraction and processing. It should be taken into account that due to the depletion of reserves of rich mineral raw materials, the volume of mined rock mass and the amount of processing waste of mineral raw materials increase. It results in the formation of mine dumps, consisting rocks, ore beneficiation wastes, ashes, slags, and sludge. Research data describe critical environmental situation within the mining enterprises, and especially mine dumps, as a result of massive dust emissions. In addition, there is a tendency to further environmental degradation, due to the increase in production capacity without complying with effective measures to reduce dust emissions. Considering the fact that fine particles are priority pollutants in the extraction and processing of mineral resources at mining enterprises, it is necessary to develop new environmentally efficient and economically viable methods of dust suppression.